Mild Winter Causing Concerning Amount of Ice Ridge Damage in Crow Wing County

The mild winter has had a rough effect on lakes in Crow Wing County. Now, the county’s Land Services department is reporting that the lack of snow and above-average temperatures this winter have led to many lakeshore landscapes around the area being affected by severe ice ridge damage.

Ice ridges occur annually and are defined as linear mounds of lakebed materials pushed onto the lakeshore by the action of ice. According to Crow Wing County Environmental Services Manager Chris Pence, they’re not only detrimental to shorelines.

“It’s not just the shoreline itself that becomes damage, but the people might have, you know, an older boathouse down there,” explained Pence. “They might have a shed that’s down by the water and, you know, those can get really jacked up depending on the extent of how how much ice damage is actually occurring on the property.”

The Land Services department encourages landowners to implement near-shore buffers with native vegetation to help reduce annual ice ridges. The deep roots hold the soil in place and help shorelines be less susceptible to ice action on lakes.